The great soap opera

No-one's mentioned anything about tomorrow night, and I don't want to sit in, so I've put the feelers out. It's going to be a pain in the arse because the people I want to spend the time with are notoriously difficult to get a reply out of. It always seems to be me that takes the initiative and I don't mind that, really, but it would be greatly appreciated by me if people could be a little more decisive and reply to contact, even if they just rule themselves out.

Thankfully, MF set the ball rolling by telling us she was going to a bar with some friends of hers. KfW mentioned that she wouldn't mind going to that bar (and she's good friends with MF), so it looks like we're going with MF's suggestion.

So, there are issues... MfW has been paranoid over the past few weeks about people like MF and a few other girls feeding information back to his most recent ex-girlfriend. I don't believe this for one second, at least, I don't believe there's a conspiracy to give this information to the ex-girlfriend. If/when MfW finds out that our plans for tomorrow night are from MF and others, he might well lose his temper.

From a personal point of view, I'm a little apprehensive because I don't know who MF's friends are, but it's not out of the question that RB will be there. That might make the night, well, interesting, but I'm looking forward to this. There are a few people that have not yet said anything and it would be great if they'd come out with us, so it's fingers crossed.

Dear Landlord... (part 4)

At 10 AM this morning, my hot water and heating returned! I didn't hear anyone in the house and no-one knocked, so I assume the landlord did the work. Not that I'm complaining... I now have my hot water and heating back. It's a pity the bath isn't plugged in cos I'd love to soak in a long hot bath, but that's only wishful thinking.

Roll on January when we can find a new house.

Getting my head showered.

Finally the landlady gets back to me to tell me that she's called a heating engineer, so it's now just a waiting game. I'm back in the house now, having bought a cheap electric heater from Argos, and it's keeping my own room toasty warm, but it's going to cost me a fortune. Unlike a lot of the country, we do at least have running water, so I can move back here after staying in my sister's for a few days.

While I'm grateful to my sister for her hospitality and it was great to spend a few days running around with my nephews, I'm glad to get back here... to be able to spend time on my own, potter about, do what I want to do and get my head showered.

Tonight, I've got plans for heading out for a few pints with MfW. Tomorrow, I'll try and get M out for something quiet and hopefully something will get organised for New Year's Eve. If there's one night I really don't want to sit in the house, it's New Year's Eve.

Dear Landlord... (part 3)

Oh, a reply at last! Maybe things will look up and we'll get the heating sorted ASAP! I'm not holding my breath though.

Dear Landlord... (part 2)

Over 24 hours later and nothing back from the landlord. I've tried to leave a voicemail but can't get through, so it's yet another text, this time a simple reminder.

Dear Landlord...

OK, I've just sent a text to the landlord's wife to get our heating fixed. I'm not sure if it's the boiler or frozen pipes, but I certainly suspect the former. How long will it be until I hear back from her? I'll try and get in contact every 24 hours until I hear back.

Brrrr...

The winter freeze is royally fucking with my Xmas plans. Our house has been frozen solid since Wednesday - not hot water, no central heating and one by one, the various rooms in the house have stopped having running water. Only the kitchen remains, and that's cold water only. Even the washing machine is screwed because the hot water pipes are frozen and I'm hopping the boiler isn't broken.

Even with the thaw on, the pipes haven't let up and I'm forced to spend another night away from my own bed... the fourth on the trot. All I want right now is a good night's sleep and a couple of days on my own.

My only remaining house mate has been his usual clueless self, to be honest. He's disappeared off for Xmas on Wednesday without informing the landlord that we were having issues. Not that I'm expecting our useless fucking landlords to do anything.

Mild thing, you make... well, perhaps not.

Out last night with people from work including KfW and JB and I had a really, really good night. I was drunk and so did a lot of dancing and the funny thing is, I could have sworn that JB was letting her hair down more than usual - she's usually quite quiet and timid. We did a lot of dancing, some of it I'd classify as being quite close. I had my hands all over her, not in a rude way, and she was throwing herself at me (in dancing terms - she literally did jump on me at once point). For JB this is extremely rare behaviour, and it was good to see her let her hair down. At one stage she was dancing with her back to me and I had my hand on her tummy... I love a woman with a flat, toned tummy and JB has that in spades.

On a side note, MfW asked me if I was planning on making a move on JB because he fancied a shot himself. I told him that I had no interest... I don't. JB is a nice girl, a friend but in terms of something more than that, I can safely say that a) she's the most high maintenance girl I've ever met and b) she doesn't do one night stands (well, beyond a snog).

She's pretty and sexy, but as far as I'm concerned, she's a no-go area.

Xmas Party

It was our work's Xmas party a few nights ago and it turned out to be really, really good fun. By the end of the night I was completely drunk and I'd had a really good night. I was feeling extremely frisky and playful during the night and ended up dancing with quite a few female friends. The only downside was hanging around in  he snow for an hour and a half waiting for a taxi to show up.

For the past few months, I've been considering making a move on a girl from work. She's probably out of my league, but I think she's good company, I think she likes me and she's friends of M's girlfriend (blonde and stunning), so there's a potential to bump into her out of work, too. I've always had this rule about dating co-workers unless I thought there was something special there... well, I've no idea but I think she's worth a shot. Why mention her? Well, she was meant to turn up to the Xmas party, but was snowed in and couldn't make it. Given I was very drunk and very frisky the other evening, I dread to think what I might have done had she turned up.

In a rich man's world...

Thirteen days into December. That's less than halfway through the month and I am pretty skint. This is the fourth month in a row that this has happened. It seems that, all of a sudden, I've got loads of money just leaving my account. It's nothing sinister... I've gone through my statements and there are no mysterious payments or anything, it just seems that over the past few months, I've had more things to pay for - my credit card started taking "proper" payments due to my trip to the States earlier this year, my night class isn't cheap, I've started a savings scheme through work... all of these payments are around £100 per month, so it's unsurprising that money's tight. Running out of money before the month's half over is a bit shocking though.

Hopefully that'll change though. Both the payments for the credit card and the night class both should end this month, giving me a bit more money to play with, plus I've spent a little extra already this month on Xmas presents and a few bills too. In addition, I can see January being a quieter one, socially, giving me more breathing space.

Still, I've seen my savings get eaten into in order to be able to survive to the end of the month, and the rest of the month is going to be busy (i.e. expensive). My finances might be something else I'm going to have to re-evaluate in January.

Party season plans.

Something I once said to USHW and have recently said to DSC is that I hate being single at this time of year. It was true when I said it to USHW a few years ago and it's still true now. This year, though, the feeling is not as bad. I have quite a few things to look forward to. I recently set in motion a plan to have a night out with my friends from work - KfW, MF, MfW, JB etc.

I also have an official work night out and another with ex-collegaues from another company (including FBS and D amongst others). I've also suggested meeting up with DSC and possibly CF as well.

Also, before Xmas, I'm expecting to meet up with possibly BW and definitely M (possibly with M's girlfriend) and juggle FP too.

Between Xmas and New Year, I'm hoping to meet up with AM and QC1 and the rest of that group and hopefully, someone will have a party on NYE to end it all off. to be honest, that's the night I'm most concerned about. I really don't want to be sat in on NYE. I don't think it's likely, but the concern is there.

That should keep me busy outside of the usual family stuff that goes on and keep my mind off the other stuff.

I'm having concerns

Sometimes I don't know if DSC knows me. Obviously, it can be hard communicating over the internet, but I do wonder. Even during the online dating phase a few months back and approaching so many women, out of the blue, DSC accuses me of chasing women who are out of my league. I think I've covered this before.

We were chatting yesterday and I genuinely feel sad for her because of her boyfriend situation. He's just either useless or clueless or a combination of both and she's settling for this because she thinks she can't do any better because (her words) "of the baggage I carry around with me". She means her kids.

I believe in all of my friends. I really don't think anyone should settle and I don't believe that a relationship where all you ever do is cry or are critical of your boyfriend or are trying to get your boyfriend to meet you halfway is a good relationship. And because of that, I am really concerned.

PostSecret

On a Sunday, I usually find myself browsing PostSecret and this week, a posted secret was something that struck a chord with me:




I do miss E, sometimes quite a lot, but I know she's happy. She's coming home next year for a bit and I'm already looking forward to it. I'll take a few days off again, well meet up and have fun.

Knowing me, knowing you... AHA!

One of my new team mates is a stunningly attractive, slim, athletic brunette. Precisely my type. I've admired her from afar since I joined the company, but she's way out of my league. However, getting to know her has been fun and she is good fun. When out with work last night, I happened to mention that she and KfW do not get along, or rather, that I had noticed that they don't get along.

The new team-mate was quite shocked that I knew, suggesting that she'd been deliberately keeping things under wraps regarding her relationship with KfW, but my opinion is that it doesn't matter to me as long as it doesn't hugely influence my relationship with the new team-mate.

I predict that she'll have questions about it next week.

Party season begins.

Now we're into December, party season begins and I am starting to look forward to the holiday season. I'm not a huge Xmas fan and by the time the 25th rolls round, I will be utterly sick of it, but I am looking forward to meeting up with friends.

I'm out with work tomorrow night and I'm looking forward to it, with the possibility of more this weekend, should the snow stay away.

Party season is good... plenty of potential to meet new people etc.